I hadn't seen Oliver in a while, which wasn't a surprising thing, but I was shocked to see that he had apparently dyed his hair during that time. I had known him since I was young, and he had always looked the same, bronzed complexion that seemed to be natural rather than tanned, rumpled clothing except when he had something important to attend to, hard golden eyes and glasses that I suspected were just for show, and dark brown hair grown down past his butt, usually braided. This time... this time his hair was a bright flame red in color, though just as long as always. I couldn't help but stare.
"Is this the idiot who was fooling around and fucked up my readings?!" he growled after laying eyes on Red, who was leaning heavily against my shoulders.
"Calm down, Oliver," I said, before he could start advancing on Red. Meanwhile, Red had noticed the rage in the form before him and was unconsciously trying to shrink back from Oliver. He couldn't, because he could barely even stand without my help, but I still understood the feeling. Oliver when angry was... not pleasant.
"I thought I told you to inform me before bringing another mage into this place?" he asked, the temperature around him dropping several degrees all of a sudden. "Have you forgotten that you gave your word on that?"
"I didn't know he was a mage, else I would have told you!" I snapped. "How was I supposed to know? You know that I'm not super-sensitive like you! I can't just look at someone and say "Oh, he's a mage. I'll have to tell Oliver" the way you can, and it's not like he told me."
Oliver glared at me, but I stood my ground, knowing that I had every right to be angry with him in return in this situation. I had sworn to tell him if I was bringing a new mage into the house, but that was all dependent on whether I knew that I was bringing a new mage into the house or not. Oliver knew my limitations and had agreed to that when we made the original agreement.
"..."
Oliver's silence was almost as uncomfortable as his anger. The temperature of the air around him was still down, almost painfully cold, showing that he was still angry. He seemed to have accepted the fact that I couldn't necessarily know if a person was a mage when I just met him, but there seemed to be something else about the situation that was angering him. What, I had no clue.
Finally, I got tired of the silence on Oliver's part, and I decided to speak up. "Is there any other problem with the situation?" I asked, my voice dipping dangerously close to angry. It wouldn't do for me to get angry as well, but Oliver was being unreasonable. Besides, even if he was quite a bit older than I was (which he was, considering he had been a rather permanent fixture in the house before I was even born), it was my house, and he was just a resident.
"There was a ward on this room," he said, putting his hand against the doorway. I'm sure he had felt it when he stepped through the doorway, but since I had broken it, he might have thought he was imagining things. Touching the doorway itself allowed him to make sure he had felt it correctly.
"I know that. I broke through it trying to get in here after the defenses went off."
"It seems to have been cast before today," he said, his voice still cold, but at least it was starting to quiet down. "I would say it was erected a few months ago from the feel of it."
"That can't be." I looked over at Red, who just cast his eyes down at the floor, which didn't seem like a good sign. Still, I couldn't accept that. I wasn't the greatest mage in the world - I would be the first person to admit that - but the house defenses had been erected by a far greater mage than myself. I just watched over them and kept them updated. There was no way that Red would have been able to ward the room without the defenses kicking in...
"Still, that is what I am sensing from the remains of the wards. In addition... the caster must have been brought in from outside. These crudely constructed wards were cast by a rather powerful, but very poorly trained witch. We do not have one of those here."
Red, when I looked over at him again, had gone white as a sheet, which indicated to me that something wasn't right. Obviously he had brought in another person, which was actually against the contract that he had signed when he first made the arrangements to move in. It might seem slightly... strict, but because of the sensitive nature of some of the residents (only Oliver at that point, but still, he did have precedence over everyone else), that was the way things were. Residents had to have approval from me before bringing in outsiders, just so I was aware and could run interference should whoever it was turn out to be some sort of person after one of the other residents. I had thought that Red understood that when I explained it to him; he even seemed happy about it (I had assumed that, like some of the other residents we've had in the past, he had people on his tail as well). But apparently I had been wrong... based on what Oliver felt and his reaction.
Oliver looked over at Red, and I saw some unreadable expression go across his face. Then he got this pensive look, like he had realized something that had been hidden to him before. I had no clue what it was that he had realized, and he didn't look like he was about to share it with me. I was about to say something to Red, some warning about bringing others, especially other mages, into the house, but before I could do that, Oliver came up to Red and whispered something in his ear. I'm not sure how he managed it, and how Red understood him, but he said it so softly that I couldn't hear him, even with Red still hanging off my shoulder. Red nodded, his face still deathly pale.
"So that's how it is," Oliver said. "We need to speak of this a little more in depth, somewhere less open to the world. Would you come with me willingly?"
"If you promise not to tell," Red replied, his voice barely audible above the sound of my own breathing.
"At least let Glenn know. He has a right as owner of the house."
"I know that," Red said. "But I just..."
I cleared my throat and looked at Oliver. "Is this something that will affect the integrity of the house's defenses?" I asked, realizing that whatever he had said to Red that I couldn't hear, he had guessed something correctly. I had no idea what it was they were talking about, but I figured that I wouldn't find out any faster (and I wouldn't make the situation any better) if I pressed for the details right then and there. Oliver would have a better idea of whether the information would compromise security, so he was the one I asked. "I can't ignore it if it is, but if it's not something that will put the rest of the house in danger, I could probably wait until he's ready to talk about it."
"That would depend on the details. But the information that I have gleaned will not have any impact on house security to the extent that I have figured out. If I learn otherwise, I will be sure to tell you; that much I assure you. I cannot swear to not tell a secret that would put the other residents of the house in danger."
"I... I swear..." Red said, his voice still just the slightest of whispers. "It's not anything that would affect anyone else in the house. Please, believe me."
"I will be the judge of that." Then, Oliver turned to me. "Glenn, would this be all right with you?"
I shrugged, meaning yes in this case, and he seemed to take it as I meant it. Before long, he was beckoning Red to follow him. Red was still leaning on my shoulder, but as Oliver motioned for him, he took a deep breath and stepped away. He wobbled a bit, but in the end he didn't fall over. He then followed Oliver on unsteady legs out the room and down the hall. I assumed they were going to Oliver's room in the basement, though I didn't follow them to make sure.